Hollywood threw itself a party last evening. Unfortunately, in the business of specialty film there is little to
1. Maintain the Integrity of the Story: Sometimes "development hell" helps clarify artistic vision. The script, co-written by Moverman and Alessandro Camo, was attached to three directors in three years- Sydney Pollack, Roger Michell and Ben Affleck. Pollack wanted a love story while Affleck emphasized combat scenes. Oren held firm in the story he required. "To us, it's about grief and life, about needing to move back into the realm of the living once faced with death. And so it's a much more universal theme than just a particular war. All of us will get notified one day."
Directing the film allowed Moverman and Camo to work the material from the inside, adhering to the integrity of the story. "That is a gift".
2. Nurture a built-in audience: "The film was supported by the army from the beginning. We asked for their help and advice, they read the script and said, 'Yes, we want you to make this movie and we will help.' So they gave us access to a base to shoot, and we had a full-time adviser on the set. So we knew that officially the army as an institution was behind the movie."
In the United States, there are two million men and women in uniform and millions more veterans and their families. Oscilloscope reached out to this potential audience quite early, arranging screenings for military families in the DC area. This encouraged a built-in audience and word of mouth, creating interest in the film before its release. "Soldiers individually responded to the movie, which I think was a really important thing for us, and a real honor. In particular, soldiers of the Vietnam generation." That word of mouth was very cost-effective.
The film also generated buzz through the festival circuit. It was acquired at Sundance 2009 and won two awards at the Berlin Film Festival- Best Screenplay and Peace Award. This notoriety meant a strong opening last November when it premiered on just four screens. The critical support, end of year release prior to awards season and targeted screenings combined to help The Messenger realize $1 million in box office.
3. Artistic Risk: The most important ingredient for indie success, other than fiscal caution, is artistic risk. Oren embraced creative risk. "For the notification scenes, I didn't let the two sides meet before the scene and there were no rehearsals. We wanted everything fresh and raw. This script is so raw, it might as well be raw on film. We also encouraged the cast to explore their characters. Some of our best moments were not in the script.
We didn't want to show anything but human situations. We used only zoom lenses to allow a slow, subtle approach to and from the characters. There is one insert in the movie, otherwise every frame has some human interaction. There are no establishing shots, no dissolves, nothing fancy, just a camera longing to lock in the essence of the emotions portrayed on screen."
Oren's likely next project will be a big studio release with a built-in audience, the Kurt Cobain biopic. Oscilloscope is following that path of other indie distributors that have showed staying power, such as Zeitgeist and Kino- keep costs low and quality high. At the Academy Award announcement, Adam Yauch had a message: "Watch out Harvey, it's on now".
Levi Shapiro is a Partner at TMT Strategic Advisors, a research and strategy firm focusing on the technology, media and telecom sectors. He can be reached at levi.shapiro@tmtstrat.com or via twitter: @levshapiro
Read all Levi's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Unleavened Media - MediaBizBloggers.
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